Thescelosaurus
Thescelosaurus was a genus of small ornithopod dinosaur that appeared at the very end of the Late Cretaceous period in North America. It was a member of the last dinosaurian fauna before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event around 66 million years ago. Information Thescelosaurus had short, broad, five-fingered hands, four-toed feet with hoof-like toe tips, and a long tail braced by ossified tendons from the middle to the tip, which would have reduced the flexibility of the tail. The rib cage was broad, giving it a wide back, and the limbs were robust. The animals may have been able to move on all fours, given its fairly long arms and wide hands, but this idea has not been widely discussed in the scientific literature, although it does appear in popular works. Charles M. Sternberg reconstructed it with the upper arm oriented almost perpendicular to the body, another idea that has gone by the wayside. As noted by Peter Galton, the upper arm bone of most ornithischians articulated with the shoulder by an articular surface that consisted of the entire end of the bone, instead of a distinct ball and socket as in mammals. The orientation of the shoulder's articular surface also indicates a vertical and not horizontal upper arm in dinosaurs. Thescelosaurus was a heavily built bipedal animal, probably herbivorous, but potentially not. There was a prominent ridge along the length of both maxillae (the tooth-bearing "cheek" bones), and a ridge on both dentaries (tooth-bearing bone of the lower jaw). The ridges and position of the teeth, deeply internal to the outside surface of the skull, are interpreted as evidence for muscular cheeks. Aside from the long narrow beak, the skull also had teeth in the premaxilla, or upper beak (a primitive trait among ornithopods). Long rod-like bones called palpebrals were present over the eyes, giving the animal heavy bony eyebrows. Its teeth were of two types: small pointed premaxillary teeth, and leaf-shaped cheek teeth. Six small teeth were present in both premaxillae, with a toothless section at the tip of the beak. The nature of this genus' integument, be it scales or something else, is currently unknown, although potential evidence exists: Charles Gilmore described patches of carbonized material near the shoulders as possible epidermis, with a "punctured" texture, but no regular pattern, and William J. Morris suggested that armor was present, in the form of small scutes he interpreted as located at least along the midline of the neck of one specimen. Scutes have not been found with other articulated specimens of Thescelosaurus, though, and Morris's scutes could be crocodilian in origin. Overall, the skeletal anatomy of this genus is well documented, and restorations have been published in several papers, including skeletal restorations and models. The skeleton is known well enough that a detailed reconstruction of the hip and hindlimb muscles has been made. The animal's size has been estimated in the 2.5–4.0 meter range for length for various specimens, and a weight of 200–300 kilograms with the large type specimen of T. garbanii estimated at 4–4.5 meters long. As discussed more fully under "Discovery, history, and species", it may have been sexually dimorphic, with one sex larger than the other. Juvenile remains are known from several locations, mostly based on teeth. In-Game Thescelosaurus will be in the early access of Prehistoric Kingdom. It has both feather and scaly options, with 2 feathered skins and 1 scaly skin each. Gallery VX4mbQ7.jpg|The old Thescelosaurus skins 356c1Un.jpg|Updated Thescelosaurus skins fX8vemg.jpg Thescelosaurus_01_Preview.png|Autumn Leaf Thescelosaurus_02_Preview.png|Lilypad Thescelosaurus_03_Preview.png|Water Drake Category:Dinosaurs Category:Ornithopod Category:Herbivore